A Good Samaritan came to that woman's rescue.
Ron Psenka did not think twice before acting. Barefoot and in his pajamas, he grabbed the closest thing to a weapon he could find - a shovel - and took off after the alleged attacker.
"As a parent, certainly, the first thing that might cross your mind is, hey, that could be my own child under there," said Psenka.
He said it was close to 4 a.m. Saturday when his wife woke him up. There was a woman being assaulted in the alley behind their Lincoln Square home.
"I ran down the stairs, grabbed a shovel, leapt over the fence and then headed towards the person that was on top of this woman," said Psenka.
The alleged attacker is cab driver Admon Shasho, 27. In court Sunday, prosecutors said the 21-year-old victim was walking home listening to her iPod, when, by his own admission, Shasho spotted her, parked his cab and followed her on foot down the alley. Prosecutors say he first tried to rob her, then forced her down to the ground and assaulted her.
"Another human being doing that to another human being is not something anybody ever wants to see," said Psenka. "This person was more than twice her weight and was easily manhandling her, and that's not right."
Barefoot and in his pajamas, Psenka chased the suspect away from the alley, the three blocks from his house to Wells Park on Western Avenue, which is where he was able to flag down a squad car. The police then pursued Shasho and apprehended him.
"I think I did what anybody else probably would do in this situation and that is try and stop him," said Psenka. "I maybe went a little further, but at this point, to stop him and to make sure that she was OK."
The cab driver is charged with attempted robbery and criminal sexual assault. He is being held at Cook County Jail on $700,000 bond.
The victim has already stopped by twice to thank Psenka. He said that Sunday morning that, she and her mom came by with flowers.
